Same-sex couple's fertility treatment on hold as private clinic holds out for more government funding

The women look at each other with reassuring smiles before they launch into their story.

Their dream is to become parents, and to have a child of their own.

But while they knew that as a same-sex couple, that journey would come with challenges, they never expected to be caught up in a conflict between the government and the private fertility clinic where Sarah is to be artificially inseminated.

"I feel helpless. I feel I don't have any solutions." said Sarah. (CBC has agreed to use pseudonyms for Sarah and her partner Maria, because they worry revealing their true identities could affect their chances of having a baby with the clinic's help.)

"We come from two great families. We both have siblings. We have friends who are lesbian couples that have had kids," said Sarah. "I think it's just the greatest gift of life, and having that almost ripped away from me is horrifying."

She and Maria, who have been together for years, did their research before starting the process to be inseminated at Clinique Ovo. They said the clinic had a good success rate, and they had read positive reviews online before starting the process.

But in November, after the CAQ government's 2020 legislation on assisted procreation came into effect, most private fertility clinics put in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and artificial insemination treatment on hold in a dispute over the fees Quebec's health insurance board (RAMQ) was prepared to pay for these services.

The clinics succeeded in negotiating an increase in the fee RAMQ pays for a round of IVF treatment, from $3,900 to $6,600, and resumed offering IVF.

However, RAMQ held the line on what it was prepared to pay for costs associated with artificial, or intrauterine, insemination (IUI), which can run to about $800 per cycle.

Under the new law, RAMQ will pay for up to six rounds of IUI treatment.

At least two clinics — Clinique Ovo and Procrea Fertility's clinic in Gatineau — didn't resume offering IUI, as they argued the cost of providing a round of treatment is higher than what RAMQ is prepared to pay.

Consequently, some patients have been left in limbo: Sarah and her partner already spent thousands of dollars on tests at the clinic and were set to begin their first round of intrauiterine insemination when Clinique Ovo suspended those treatments.

"We ended up in this situation where we were held hostages, where we couldn't proceed," said Maria. "This created a lot of psychological strain."

"I don't think a lot of people talk about that or understand that. But emotionally and psychologically, this has been really difficult for both of us."